This blog has been playing on my mind for a while now, as I flicked through the assorted skiing and climbing blogs where Chamonix’s community posts conditions and ideas for all to share and wondered why there wasn’t a similar thing happening for bikes. Hopefully this is the start…..
Today seems as good a day as any to launch, with the bike uplift season starting in Chamonix as the Bellevue gondola in Les Houches and the Tramway du Mont-Blanc in St Gervais open. Together these give more than enough trails to keep us busy till more lifts open next weekend.
If that’s not enough for you, the skate park & pump track (which were finished months ago) were officially inaugurated today too. Happy days!
The biggest challenge at the moment though isn’t getting a lift to the top of the trails, but getting down them. A foehn wind storm at the end of April made a wee bit of a mess of the forests. Work is ongoing to cut through the fallen trees, but it’s a big job and the popular walking trails are being prioritised. From the last 10 days or so, I’ve been out on these trails and conditions are….
Chalet Cremerie de Caillet: It took over 2 weeks to clear the trees from the Montenvers railway, so I was expecting this to be pretty bad, fortunately it was mostly the rain that was the problem here yesterday. Path almost completely cleared with just a few trees left to go, most of which will just need a hand saw to dispatch.
Loriaz Chalets: Trails completely clear, despite a fair sized avalanche taking out large parts of the lower trail, merci bien to whoever spent a long time chainsawing through it all!
Animal park, or Petit Balcon from Merlet to Gaillands: Clear and the bridge has been replaced too. Alas the other trails down from Merlet and Coupeau aren’t too easy to pass.
Petit Balcons Sud & Nord: Both clear and riding well, but getting busier…
Plan de l’Aiguille: The descent’s been cleared from the top of the forest road down (though some of the clearing is less than perfect for a bike….) not sure about higher up. There’s logging work at the start of the forestry road, so best to start climbing from behind the campsite for now.
